MASSACHUSETTS: If I Had a Million

As the eldest of nine children of poor
Italian immigrants, John Deferrari was forced to quit school to help
support his family. In Boston, whose North End slums were all that he
knew, young John took up father Giovanni's career. A fruit basket on
his arm, he started peddling apples and oranges in the State Street
financial district.

The sight of State Street's prospering bankers and brokers filled him
with determined envy. In rapid order, John acquired a pushcart, a
store, then the building of which the store was a part. At 26, he was
operating a wholesale fruit business...